A Place to Belong
by Jesus.Lives
Summary: Miley thinks she's pretty good, but what happens when she meets someone who makes her question how good she really is? Some Moliver/Lackson. Christian fic. Inspired by your21's "Something More".
1. The Miley Welcome Wagon

_A/N. This was inspired by your21's "Something More" and is also dedicated to her._

_It is a Christian centered fic, with perhaps a romance between Miley and Oliver or Lilly and Jackson for kicks (because both ships are practically canon anyways in my mind)._

_One note: Many Christians don't look like real Christians because they've conformed to the world. They don't realize that to be "set apart from the world" as we're commanded means to induce God's word with such zest that the truth overwhelms our brain and our love for God is shown by our knowledge of Him and His words.  
The Christian in this fic, is supposed to be a true Christian such as "Christian" from the Pilgrim's Progress and not as those mere professors that act nothing like the sheep who love God and others as we're commanded to do._

_Therefore: I write this in love. To your21 and any others who wish to stand up and shout "I love Jesus" ("And Hannah Montana is a pretty great show too!")_

_With love,_

_J.L_

**Disclaimer: I don't own HM.**

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**A Place to Belong**

**This Chapter is Called: The Miley Welcome Wagon**

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"Miley! What are you doing? You don't have to make friends with every new girl to wander into our halls. She's weird." 

Miley stared at her friend as if she was deeply amused, Lilly calling someone _else_ weird was pretty ironic considering how many weird stares Lilly had gotten by jumping up and down on a sugar rush that morning.

"I'm sure she's not" Miley looked over to where to new girl was, who seemed too deeply engrossed in a book to notice anything else that was happening in the crowded cafeteria around them.

"Oh yeah?" Lilly argued, "She's been here one week and she hasn't even fit into any of the cliques yet. She hasn't even made an effort to fit in anywhere!"

"Perfect! We don't fit in anywhere either."

Oliver felt the need to do a little cough at that moment. Miley wasn't happy about it. "You got something to say, boy?"

"Nope. Not really. It's just that Amber and Ashley would put you under the heading of _'losers'_ in the school hierarchy."

Oliver had barely gotten through making this statement before Miley had grabbed him forcefully. _"Ow!_ Chest..."

"Your chest hairs are going to be the least of your worries if you say that again."

She released him and Oliver rolled his shoulders back into place, "Me? I'd say you two are more of the 'bully' type."

Miley rolled her eyes and Lilly shook her head at him at the same time. "I'm going over there" Miley said with finality as Lilly grabbed her by the hand and tried to pull her in the other direction. "No Lilly. I'm going!" She wrenched her arm free and made her way over the empty table where the girl sat.

"Hey" Miley put on her biggest _'be-my-friend'_ grin as she approached her.

The girl lifted her head from her book. "Hey" she replied giving her the once over, smiling politely and then going back to her reading.

"So... how are you liking the school?" Miley sat across from her and started to converse hesitantly hoping dearly that she would get a response and not end up looking as stupid as she had with the last few new kids (one of which threw pudding at her, one went on a vendetta to beat her to a pulp and the other had already spoken to Amber and Ashley and 'dissed' her in front of everyone).

The girl looked up again but didn't seem to mind. "It's a school" she commented idly.

Miley laughed a little. "Guess so." She drummed on the table in front of her. "So where did you come from?"

The girl who she hadn't even asked the name of giggled.

"What's so funny?" Miley demanded.

"I'm trying not to answer a stupid response like _'the womb'_ or something that would probably just annoy you. It's a bit immature. I should just keep quiet." She blushed and looked down again.

"Why would you do that?" Miley raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I say stupid things all the time. I was raised in Tennessee - the hometown of stupid sayings. But it's normal."

"It's better to be prudent."

"Huh?"

"Prudent."

"Shakespeare? Are you like... some English major or something?"

"Shakespeare?" Both of them looked at each other completely confused and then at the smirking of the girl in front of her, both of them started to laugh.

"You seem really normal." Miley told her truthfully, "how come you haven't found any friends yet?"

"I don't know. A few reasons. Partly afraid, being unequally yoked, having nobody to understand me. Y'know. Usual teen stuff."

"Oh" Miley felt as though she missed some private joke in part of that statement. "You can always hang out at the beach with my friends and I sometime. We're usually around Rico's after school."

"Um. I'm not sure."

A worried look crossed Miley's face. "Have you been speaking to either Amber or Ashley?"

The girl shrugged helplessly, "Can't say I have."

"Great! So see you after school? Oh, by the way, I'm Miley" Miley extended her hand to her and the girl shook her firmly.

"Maxie" she grinned one last grin and turned back to her book. Miley tried to take a glance at it as she got up to leave, but found it to be utterly futile, but it did look like Shakespeare.

Lilly clung to Miley as soon as she left the cafeteria. "So soon to replace us."

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen Lilly. Newcomers should always have someone to welcome them into school."

"_Oh-oh_. The Miley Welcome Wagon is back in action. Now with free cookies and a 15 percent brighter smile!" Lilly joked.

"Yep... and you' and I are going to help this girl find a place to belong."

Lilly crossed her arms. "Fine" she muttered resentfully. Miley grinned. The days were always brighter days when she could do something nice for someone else. It was if the sun was shining just on her for the rest of the day.

_You know? I'm a really nice person... _she thought to herself with a smile, getting her books out of her locker and heading to class.

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**If you love the J to the uhhh... ESUS - Holla!**

**If you guess correctly on the book Maxie is reading next chapter is yours.**


	2. Temptation

_A/N. The book was actually the book that I mentioned in the first chapter. But of course if I said that EVERYBODY would have gotten it. _

_Yes, Pilgrim's Progress is not only written in a form of play, like Shakespeare's work, it's also a great inspiration for this and an analogy of my own Christian walk... though I find myself to be trapped in Vanity Fair most often (Christian, the character, is much smarter than I am)._

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**A Place to Belong**

**This Chapter is Called: Temptation**

"She'd better come" Miley was on the watch for the new girl as soon as they got to Rico's. Her two friends sat at a table with her and offered unsure smiles.

"Don't worry Miley" Lilly reassured her. "She'll be here."

"Unless Amber and Ashley got to her first." Miley glared daggers at Oliver for this and he backpedaled as fast as he could, "Just saying, that's all!"

She did come though, still carrying her book. She blushed and she sat down at their table.

"Maxie, this is Oliver and Lilly."

Maxie waved at them, shyly. "Sorry, I'm not good with new people. I usually meet my new friends at youth group or something. But now, I'm going to a rich Malibu school and I don't know anyone... Look! I'm a walking cliche!" She joked feebly.

Miley grinned,glad that it was that she was just shy. "It's OK. Everyone gets like that around new people." Oliver stared at Miley pointedly, mouth half agape as though he desperately wanted to refute this statement. Miley retracted it hastily. "Well... almost everyone."

"So what do you normally do here?" Maxie asked, eyes darting around the table.

"I don't know. Order drinks. Get our nails done. Pick on Oliver..."

Lilly continued this, "Go surfing. Go skating. Look at cute boys..."

Miley and Lilly looked at each other and then said again in unison, "Pick on Oliver."

"Hey! If you're going be like that I'll take my business elsewhere..." Oliver said, sounding deeply offended and getting up from his seat.

"It's OK" Maxie said quietly, "I'm sure they didn't mean it."

"Oh, we meant it alright." Lilly replied.

"But you don't have to leave, Oliver" Miley pleaded with him and he sat back down shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

"The things I do for you girls."

Miley acted like she hadn't heard it, "What did you usually do back where you used to live?"

"I was busy organizing youth events, studying and things like that."

"So you didn't have much of a social life?" Lilly asked quite rudely.

"Well..." Maxie was lost on how to answer that question.

Miley slapped Lilly on the arm lightly. "It's OK. Lilly's not exactly socially trained yet."

"Hey!" she protested. Oliver began laughing. "So do you want to go and look at cute boys?" Lilly asked, figuring that ignoring the last statement was in her best interests. "Because I've got a quota of boy watching to fill."

Maxie frowned suddenly, "N-not really." she stuttered, but Lilly was already dragging her up out of her seat.

"Com'on! It'll be fun!"

The expression on Maxie's face showed that to her it was going to be anything but fun though. She closed her eyes and whispered something quickly under her breath and then got dragged off by Lilly to the beach with Miley and Oliver trailing behind.

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Maxie wasn't really looking and Lilly could tell. She nudged her lightly as much later they sat on the beach (and had been sitting so for some time). "Hey look at that one" Lilly pointed to some random guy with a surfboard as they sat on the beach. 

"Oh please, he's not a piece of meat" Oliver groaned, but he had a pair of binoculars around his neck and put them up to his eyes.

"And what exactly are you doing with those?" Miley moved closer to him trying to look in the same direction the binoculars were pointed in.

He dropped them like they caught on fire and they pounded back onto his chest. "Definitely not checking out those brunettes in a water fight by the shore. Na-uh. Defiantly not."

Miley slapped him on the arm. "Not a piece of meat, huh?"

Maxie looked uncomfortable, she got up from where she was sitting. "Sorry guys, I'd better get home."

"Oh" Miley's face lost a bit of color and she stood up as well to see her off. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's OK. Just got too..." she tapped her head bashfully, "just think on what's good, y'know."

"No problem. We can do it again tomorrow!" Miley put on her infamous 'smiley Miley' face. Maxie leaned over and gave Miley a quick surprising hug and waved her goodbye.

Lilly stood up as well as they watched her exit the beach via Rico's. "She just hugged you... and she was hardly checking out any boys. Are you sure she's not..." she leaned over and whispered in Miley's ear, "G.A.Y?"

"Gay? Of course she's gay!" Miley answered loudly, "We had a good laugh over Shakespeare today - she's defiantly one happy camper!" Miley sounded as if she had something to prove about her new friend.

Lilly just rolled her eyes and they both looked down to Oliver simultaneously. Miley hesitated and then kicked the binoculars out of his hands in one swift moment. He and the binoculars went flying into the sand.

"Donut" they both said, shaking their heads and leaving him lying on the beach to call out after them.

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**Thanks everyone for your encouragment with this. **

**It's no secret that faith-based stories are not usually well recieved (and I didn't get any flames - hurrah!)... and all your support just shows that our small community of believers are standing strong (as the church). **

**And that the church isn't just a myth - it's just those like you guys (and I'd like to think me) who hold fast to the faith.**

**Jesus loves you!**


	3. Enter Saint Sarah

_A/N. Well, we all know that Sarah isn't really a Christian. As far as I can tell, she believes everything is god - since she wants to get in touch with nature. But yet it's a thing of the world to call someone a 'saint' just for being outwardly pious or showy in good works._

_Anyways..._

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**A Place to Belong**

**This Chapter is Called: Enter Saint Sarah**

It was the next day when they met up with Maxie in the halls trying to get her locker open. Oliver strode up to her. "Allow me" he said smoothly, gave it a few raps and it opened like magic.

"Wow, thanks!" Maxie grinned at him thankfully and went to get her books out. Miley noticed that instead of pictures of celebrities or death metal bands like any normal (or sub-normal) teenager would have on the inside of their locker, hers were covered with words.

"Matthew 13:11, Hebrews 6:12... Bible verses?" she asked her, feeling a little out of place for intruding on her privacy all of a sudden.

"Try to memorize one every week!" Maxie didn't act like she'd intruded though. She just closed up her locker and got ready to walk with her new friends to their first class.

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "Why?" she asked plainly.

"Because of Proverbs 3:4" She kept her grin planted firmly on her face, but Lilly thought it looked a little forced.

"Huh?" Asked Oliver who was slapped yet again by Miley.

"So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man."

"Thou? Oh man..."

Miley rubbed Oliver's shoulder affectionately. "He's having Shakespeare flashbacks. We had to do it in class last year."

"What happened?" Maxie asked with interest.

"Well... he remembered his lines, but he was a little over-dramatic with his death."

Lilly indicated a minuscule amount between her thumb and forefinger. "Just a tad."

"It was supposed to be dramatic. That's why they call it dramatic theater!" Oliver felt he had to defend himself yet again.

"I'm not very good at theater either" Maxie sympathized. "But I've just got to remember that it doesn't matter what people think of me."

Lilly opened her mouth again and Miley cringed, knowing that something painfully embarrassing was probably going to come out and offend her new friend. "What spaceship did you jump out of? It doesn't matter what people think of you? We're teenagers! It ALWAYS matters what people think of us."

"Maybe for you girls" Oliver said smugly, "but us boys don't have to worry about anything."

"That's a given" Lilly smirked at him.

"So Maxie... how about you come over to my place for dinner tonight? My dad used to go to the Southern Baptist church down in the center of town when we lived in Tennessee."

Lilly glowered as Miley asked her this. It took Miley a whole week to ask her for dinner when they first met and now this girl she's known for two whole days gets to come over! That wasn't fair!

Maxie hardly got words of acceptance out of her mouth by the time Lilly whispered to Oliver, "Looks like 'Saint Sarah' is coming our way."

"'Saint' Sarah?"

"Yeah" Miley seemed nervous. "She's just always working hard to try and outdo everyone. Be nicer, more environmentally conscious than everyone. Everyone thinks she's a do-gooder."

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Maxie muttered.

"Huh?" Miley, Oliver and Lilly said at once.

"It's just a verse" Maxie replied sheepishly. "There's always a verse in the Bible for everything. At least that's what I believe."

Lilly rolled her eyes and imagined Miley taking her aside and saying 'we'll be best friends' - they can share their southern Bible-believing hospitality and form their own little clique. "Come on Oliver, let's go to class." Lilly grabbed Oliver's arm and dragged him away from the lockers.

"Hi guys!" Sarah beamed standing in front of Miley and Maxie. "I'm collecting signatures to set free the bees."

"The bees? Don't you eat honey?" Miley raised an eyebrow.

"I don't eat anything that comes from animals."

"Let no thing that God has deemed clean..." Maxie started to mumble almost inaudibly to herself.

"I haven't seen you around" Sarah turned to Maxie. "Welcome to our school."

"Thanks" Maxie grinned back at her, sounding gracious "I haven't been welcomed yet."

"You've been welcomed by me" Miley muttered.

Sarah waved a clipboard and a pen in front of them, "So... signatures?"

Miley groaned and took the pen, scribbling her name. She passed it over to Maxie who declined.

"Don't you believe in animal rights?" Sarah asked her not pushing the issue any harder than taking back her clipboard and pen and asking this one question.

"I believe man has dominion." Maxie said firmly.

_Ohhhh boy_, thought Miley as Sarah chirped, "suit yourself" and turned her back on them.

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**Lilly isn't feeling too great about this. Maxie is hardly fitting in at the school. Miley is going to lengths to look good with her new friend. And Oliver... well... he's Oliver.**

Spend some time today and pray! God just wants to hear from you! Faith is relying on Him for everything... realizing that His perfect will means that He's looking out for what's best for us.

Put your faith in that right now! Because a man in only as good as the object of his faith. 


End file.
